Last month in her Fall Address, Dean Leslie Durham recognized new faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences. Please give a warm welcome to our new colleagues, who you can read about below.
Darius Dawson
Darius Dawson is an award-winning director and film educator. His film, A RODEO FILM, won the 2020 DGA Student Directing Grand Prize, the Golden Tadpole at Camerimage 2020 and was purchased by HBO to stream on HBOMax. Additionally, he has directed for Peter and Bob Farrelly for their Quibi show, THE NOW, currently on the Roku Channel and 2nd Unit on THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER, currently on Apple TV +.
Before embarking on his journey as a director, Darius worked for several years as a cinematographer lensing branded and short-form content extensively in Southeast Asia, China and Japan. On the stateside, he’s shot out of helicopters for the National Guard, explosions in the high desert and drug runners on the mud flats outside of Anchorage, Alaska.
Outside of filmmaking, Darius teaches Directing and Visual Storytelling for Sundance’s online learning platform, The Sundance Collab Classes. He hails from North Carolina and attended NYU and the AFI Conservatory for cinematography and directing, respectively.
Mahshad Faridfar
Mahshad Faridfar joined Boise State University in 2024 as an assistant professor in the Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies. He received his MFA in Graphic Design from Oklahoma State University in the spring of 2024 and his BFA in Graphic Design from Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University in 2011. With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer, his professional interests have fallen primarily into the categories of generative design, interactive media and visual storytelling.
His MFA thesis explored the intersection of generative design and visual storytelling within the context of Iranian migration. The innovative use of technology in his thesis exhibition underscores Mahshad’s commitment to using design as a means to engage with complex cultural and social issues.
Mahshad is particularly passionate about the potential of generative design to create responsive and evolving visual narratives. He is committed to exploring how technology can be leveraged to tell stories that resonate on a personal and cultural level, often addressing themes of migration, identity and the human experience.
Lauren Faget
Lauren Faget joins Boise State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. She received her MS in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bordeaux in 2007 and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Strasbourg in 2010, under the supervision of Pr. Brigitte Kieffer and Dr. Dominique Massotte, studying opioid addiction. She performed her post-doc at UC San Diego in the laboratory of Dr. Tom Hnasko, studying the role and connectivity of discrete neuronal populations of the brain reward pathway. She was then a Project Scientist in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego from 2017 to 2024.
A pioneer in her field, Faget has been the first to: characterize and identify the role of heterogeneous ventral pallidum (VP) neurons in motivated behaviors using in vivo optogenetics, in vivo calcium imaging and ex vivo slice electrophysiology; report the afferent inputs to neurotransmitter-specific neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) using trans-synaptic retrograde virus; report the distribution and colocalization of mu and delta opioid receptors in the mouse brain using knock-in mice; and report the recruitment of hippocampal delta opioid receptors during context-dependent morphine withdrawal and identification of physiological pattern of internalization.
Her current research goals are to identify cell types and synapses modified in neuropsychiatric disorders (including drug addiction, depression and schizophrenia) to set new targets for therapeutic interventions. Towards this goal, her lab deploys a wide range of assays and tools, including transgenic mouse lines, genetic engineering, optogenetic manipulation, behavioral assessment, in vivo calcium imaging, histology, in situ hybridization and microscopy.
Bia Mizoguchi
Bia Mizoguchi joins Boise State as clinical assistant faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences. She completed a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences, with a minor in Science Education from State University of Maringá (Brazil). She received her Ph.D. in Genetics from Iowa State University. Mizoguchi’s research was in turtle sex determination and during graduate school she was involved in teaching activities and leadership positions at the Brazilian Student Association. There she received a teaching excellence award from ISU’s Graduate College.
Before coming to Boise State, Mizoguchi worked as a Teaching Laboratory Specialist at the Veterinary Pathology Department at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University.
Andrew Gase
Andrew Gase joins Boise State as an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences. He studies the structure and evolution of the Earth with seismology and teaches courses in geophysics and geodynamics. His specialty is marine seismology, which involves (1) placing seismometers on the seafloor to detect natural seismic waves from faults, volcanoes and oceanographic processes, and (2) making geologic CT-scans or “images” with human-made acoustic energy sources. His recent research projects have included seismic monitoring of Southeast Alaska’s Queen Charlotte Fault, imaging the internal structure of large earthquakes producing faults in New Zealand and studying the structural development of submarine volcanoes.
Gase graduated from Boise State University with a master’s degree in Geophysics in 2017 and received his doctoral degree in Geological Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin in 2022.
Katrina Kopeloff
Katrina joins Boise State as an assistant professor of illustration in the Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies. She grew up in chilly southern Colorado, the land of cool sunshine. Her parents are from Argentina and during a childhood visit to Patagonia she strolled leisurely with a group of penguins and has drawn them ever since. Her illustrations have won awards from 3×3 Magazine, Applied Arts Magazine, Creative Quarterly Magazine, CYMK Magazine, Society of Illustrators West and Cultural Association Teatrio’s 15th Annual Competition of Illustration. She created illustrations for two international picture books, “La Visita De Los Troles” – Spain, and “El Gato E O Macaco” – Portugal.
Before coming to Boise State, she worked as a freelance illustrator and taught in various colleges New York City and Philadelphia for 15 years.
Heidi Hansen
Heidi Hansen is a lecturer for first year writing in the Department of Writing Studies. She holds a master’s degree in Rhetoric, Writing, and Digital Media Studies from Northern Arizona University and is a doctoral candidate in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University. Prior to teaching at Boise State, she taught first year writing and other English courses at Northwest College in Wyoming. Her research interests include first-year writing, teaching writing online, religious and queer rhetorics, online counterpublic rhetoric and rhetorical empathy.
Mark Horton
Mark Horton joins Boise State as a lecturer in the First Year Writing Program. He currently serves as an instructor for English 101(P), English 101 and English 102. In 2023 Mark was an adjunct instructor teaching English 101(P), English 101 and English 102. In addtion to teaching First Year Writing classes for four years, he has also worked for eight years in the Writing Center at Boise State University as: intern, undergraduate, graduate student and on-line coordinator working with the Program’s Director.
Mark received a Bachelors of Arts from Boise State University in 2017 with an English degree with emphasis in Literature. He received a Masters Degree from Boise State University in 2022 in English Literature. He currently serves as a member on the Steering Committee and Chair the Student Success and Retention Committee for First Year Writing.